Finding joy in the everyday
I am trying to be better at taking photos of the boys, just everyday, normal photos. And not all on my phone. I still love taking photos and really enjoy being able to pull out my camera.
This was a mommy and Lucas morning. Just playing, having chats, looking out over the neighborhood.
We kept little toots birthday party pretty small and simple. It was just right and I think he actually had fun too. No meltdowns….well, until he got hungry for more than just cake.
I took the first few photos a few weeks earlier for his invite. He LOVES his fox so much.
This one cracks me up….what’s that bright light, mom?
William was the candle helper.
He did pretty well with the cake. Picked it up and tossed it around a bit. Got pretty good and dirty. And even cuter.
Presents! He loved the paper for sure!
Holding his own with the big boys.
This is my friend, Jessica Frey, her little guy. Evan and Lucas were born one day apart. They are going to be best buds….because their mama’s said so. Love this photo.
And a big thanks to Jessica for grabbing a few shots of the whole family. Relaxed, crazy and fun always equals perfect.
Lucas, I am a little in shock that we’ve reached the one year point already. It came much to fast for this mama but it’s been a wonderful year getting to know you. You’re determined, into everything, daring, silly, loud and all things boy. I love you so much and love that I get to be your mama and watch you make silly faces everyday and do your little bouncing crawl. You always bring a smile to my face.
My last update was in June at 13 weeks and I am currently 27 weeks. I seem to only be recording this pregnancy on Instagram with bump photos. It’s funny how much less I am doing this time around but I suppose that is to be expected. Poor second child (I speak from experience!). So now, I have to try and remember everything about the last 14 weeks….less sickness for one and that’s a really good thing.
17 week baby bump hiding under the chocolate cake.
18 weeks in Castroville for the 4th of July weekend. Tacos and donuts. Baby needs them.
I definitely feel like we are in the homestretch here. Nesting is in full on mode. We are rearranging the upstairs – all three rooms actually. Our office/guest room is becoming the new nursery and the office or just the desk really, will move into our room. Not ideal but really the only place for it. William’s room isn’t moving but we will be getting him a new bed soon and doing a bit of rearranging in there as well. I want to make it a little more “big boy” for him – new bedding, artwork and curtains. I am still keeping with the same colors but may be adding more things like construction trucks, school buses and quite possibly dogs. We’ll see how it shakes out. I just don’t want him to feel overlooked with the new baby on the way.
With all the rearranging you better believe I am also purging. One trip to Goodwill has already happened and I am pretty sure we’ll have at least another before the baby arrives. It’s amazing how much stuff can accumulate, especially toys. Our house isn’t tiny or huge but it doesn’t offer a lot in the way of storage other than large closets. I really don’t want to keep them filled with just stuff we don’t ever use so I think I am always purging. It’s also been an interesting challenge to use what we have and see how we can create more storage to keep things we do use on a daily basis more organized.
21 weeks and 2 dinners are the norm.
I also started planning the new nursery in the last couple weeks and I made decisions so much faster this time around. It’s hard to describe the current office paint color….maybe a taupe of sorts? But I knew I didn’t want to repaint so my goal was to work with it and of course use the crib and rocker we already have. So far, I’ve only purchased a dresser (Craigslist for $100) and the material to make things like a blanket, pillows, sheets, etc. I have to say I am really in love with the direction I’ve taken on the theme. It’s boyish but not baby-ish and very warm and cozy. He’ll definitely be able to grow into it. I’ve already finished his crib quilt/blanket, one pillow and a crib sheet. But I’ll be doing a separate post on the room when it’s more complete. The only way I am getting any of these projects finished is because I moved most of my sewing supplies into my room and set up shop on my side table/desk. It’s a little messy but it beats having it all over the dining room table and hauling it up and down the stairs.
Nursery theme sneak peek!
Ok, so back to pregnancy stuff. Haha! Six weeks ago we went in for my ultrasound and found out we’re having another boy! Taking William with us may not have been the best idea but hey, he’s our boy and part of the family. He was a little unsure of what was going on with me on the table and all that jazz. I have to say I was not that surprised with the news and part of me is relieved. A girl would have been great and a lot of fun but I feel a little more comfortable and *experienced* (ha!) with boys. I am also really glad William will have a buddy. Just think, I’ll be able to send them both outside to play together! That’s huge in my book. I am sure there will be a lot of water hose baths in my future. It’s all good.
Snuggles with both my boys.
24 weeks the day after a prenatal appointment that William came along for. He did so well and even sat up on the exam table with me and listened to the baby’s heartbeat.
25 weeks and I promise this isn’t staged. He was giving baby brother a hug.
Yes, I have a boy already and yes, I have clothes for the new guy. But really, not shop for him at all?! Yeah, that won’t happen. I mean, how cute are these!? I’ll have to stay away from Carter’s for a while though…no control.
26 weeks with a baby eggplant. Or is that a baby the size of an eggplant? I feel so much smaller this time around but again I say that when I should probably go back and compare some of my maternity photos from William. I don’t really remember. Although the guy cutting my fabric at Joann’s made me feel absolutely giant. He was surprised I still had about 3 months to go “sticking out as far as I am”. Gee, thanks.
This was my post-glucose test (which I passed!) lunch. Not eating from 11:30pm the night before until 12:45pm the day of was rough! I devoured all of this and could have had seconds. That “Fanta” drink at 9am was divine and I had no problem chugging it.
Part of me has been feeling guilty for not feeling as connected with this child even though he doesn’t ever let me forget he’s present. Um, hello, constant kicks. Sometimes I forget I am pregnant and I make myself sit and focus on him for a bit. But I realize I need to let that guilt go (this was a good read!) and just enjoy this journey. He’ll be here soon, changing our lives for the better and we’ll love him just as much as William (another thing I find hard to comprehend). I really am so excited to meet him, see what he looks like, discover his personality and see how William interacts with him. I know I have mentioned before that the logistics of handling two kids instead of one has me a bit nervous but I was nervous with William too and he was just one! I know it’ll be a learning process again but it will also not be as bad as I think it’ll be. I see other families doing it and surviving (with more than 2!) and that is an encouragement as well.
If you follow me on Instagram, a lot of these photos are my iPhone pics from there. Maybe I’ll get James to do a mini-maternity session for me in October.
I’ll post all things baby again when I have more of the nursery to share and maybe some more bump photos. I am sure there was more I wanted to share in this post but I can’t think of anymore at the moment. Thanks for sticking around this long!
What’s new now…
He took 3 steps on Sunday and 1 step yesterday! A first for him. He does great standing on his own so I think he is pretty close to going all the way.
Monkey see, monkey do…this goes for speaking too. He has become a little copycat and will mimic sounds and tries with some words. First word was ‘ball’ but he also tries to say ‘hello’. Mama and Dada are in there too but I don’t think he associates those words with us quite yet. I think he says ‘more’ and ‘bah’ means a lot of things but especially ‘up’. He will also say ‘bye’ when daddy leaves in the morning or if I tell him we are going bye-bye. And as of Sunday, daddy taught him hi-yah, hand chopping motion included. What’s really funny is he ‘chops’ himself. Oh and I can’t forget the barking…woof woof is universal for dogs, birds, cars and any other sound he hears outside.
He is still our snuggle boy and loves to hug on anything soft like a stuffed animal. His stuffed puppies and monkeys are current favorites. He has also hugged his milk cup so I guess it’s not all squishy things. Hugging is accompanied by a ‘mmmming’ sound that melts my heart.
Wrestling with daddy before and after dinner is a new thing. He has to get on the couch and do tumbles and anything crazy daddy will do. I try to vacate the area. He still doesn’t understand edges and that he can fall off so there is no fear with him.
We are down to one nursing at night (yay!) and he eats 3 good size meals a day and as many snacks as I will let him have. Mum mums and puffs are still high on his list but I usually save those for car and grocery store trips. He switched from goats milk to cow milk with no problem and barely used a sippy cup. We pretty much went right to straws back in December. He is also pretty good with a fork and we try to practice a lot.
We have outside play time almost everyday. He loves it and will try to escape whenever we open the back door. He gets pretty upset if his attempt fails. When we are outside he usually works on relocating the dirt from my gardens, eating dirt, exploring what he can and pulling leaves off plants before I can stop him. Every trip outside usually requires a mini bath in the sink.
We’ve also made teeth brushing a part of his bedtime routine and he loves it. He starts laughing at himself and I am not sure why. It just cracks me up.
Making dinner has become difficult because he wants to see what I am doing. Sometimes I let him stand next to me on a chair and watch which usually means grab whatever I see. I can’t do that all the time though because he doesn’t understand knives yet. Oh and another word he knows…hot. He puts his hand out towards the stove and says ‘hot’, especially when he sees steam. He also does this towards the vacuum. I’ve let him play at the kitchen sink with water and random kitchen stuff. He loves that and gets quite upset when that game is over. I may have to transition that game to the back porch with a bucket or something. He has also become James’ coffee apprentice in the mornings. James will hold him while he grinds coffee and makes it in the Chemex. If William hears the grinder from his crib in the morning, he is instantly ready to get up and hurry downstairs. Now I just need William to get better at it so he can take over when James is out of town. Need my coffee!
Have I forgotten anything? He seems to be doing something new all the time and changing. You can almost watch his brain learn something new. Speaking of learning, Baby Einstein videos are a huge hit with him. There is a 30 minute one that he pretty much watches start to finish. I will hear him trying to repeat the numbers or call the apples ball. It’s so cute…he will hang onto the credenza and stare at the tv for most of it, usually with a bit of dancing too. I try to limit these to once or twice a week and only when I am really desperate to get dinner made.
I could go on and on, especially about the silly faces he makes or the way he crawls in slow motion sometimes or tries to blow ceiling fans and any plants or flowers he sees…he is too much. Even on the rough days I still want to wake him up and hug him. I look at photos and videos of him instead. What an amazing and special little boy we have!
All photos were taken a few days after his 1st birthday.
William’s party was a blast. He was completely worn out by 4pm and I am so surprised he lasted that long (especially without any naps!). With help from my mom and sisters, I pulled off his Dapper Little Man theme.
The party was actually the day after his birthday, so on his birthday, we FaceTimed with Oma and Opa and opened their presents. They got him this really cool bike that he can either ride or walk and push. He loves to go fast on it!
I did as much decorating that night as I could because I knew the next day would move quickly. I decided to try and keep things simple – just a few decorations and only sweets and fruit for snacks. The only decoration I made was the bunting. Using scrapbook paper from Archiver’s, I cut out neck ties and bow ties and then attached them to baker’s twine. I guess I also made the balloon bunting which was an idea I saw on YHL. It’s a great way to decorate with balloons. I also hung up tissue balls from ShopSweetLulu and two “collages” of photos of William.
One of the collages I did was 48 Printstagram prints of William in the shape of a one. I saw the idea for that on a friend’s Instagram feed. She did it for her one year old. The other collage was 13 photos of William, one on his day of birth and one from each month up to 12. They were 5×5 prints from my lab with a white border.
Some pre-party preparations….William is helping James get the drinks cold. Aunt Jessica is working her magic with the icing for the cupcakes. I made Blueberry Cupcakes with Blueberry Cream Cheese icing and a gluten-free, dairy-free yellow cupcake with a chocolate frosting. Both were really good! And I would not have had them decorated in time if not for Jessica. I don’t have patience for that stuff anyway. William was also on balloon testing detail. He LOVED the balloons. We still have a few left that he tosses around. I am pretty sure his first official word is ball.
We also had yellow cake pops with white coating and yellow sprinkles. I rolled them but my sister finished them (she is an expert truffle roller) otherwise they never would have made it to the table. They were a big hit with the kids (and adults). The gray chevron straws I also bought from ShopSweetLulu…it was a pack of 20 so we cut them in half.
These are the gluten-free, dairy-free cupcakes. I used a box mix and the frosting is mostly coconut oil, dark chocolate and vanilla. The consistency is different but there was only one of these left at the end of the night, so that must mean they were tasty.
I picked up this W at Michael’s and wasn’t sure how I was actually going to use it for the party but in the end it made a great centerpiece.
We had a wonderful turnout of friends and family – so many kids! I am afraid it was a bit of a crush though because the rainy weather kept us from using the patio and backyard. It was still fun though and I really enjoyed seeing so many people.
Maria and William show off their birthday outfits. Our next door neighbor has a little boy too who is 3 months younger than William. I love this photo of them…it looks like William is protecting his puffs.
Then it was time for cake. Can you tell he is sleepy?
He was pretty straight faced for a while, just politely eating his blueberries and watching everyone watch him. I love the top right photo….”You want me to make a mess? Do I have to?” He is so into wiping his mouth now with any towel or napkin he finds. Such a neat mister. The bottom right he hit sleepy/silly.
Heather is a fellow birth center mom and Miss Carrie turns one this week!
So many presents! And tissue paper!
Wearing his awesome fedora from his friend Zoe. He actually really likes it…I promise. He was ready for a nap at this point.
Bedtime snuggles and books with Aunt Jessica and Uncle Nathan. What a great way to end a fun day.
Happy Birthday to my dapper little one year old! It still seems like yesterday we brought you home and had no idea what to do with you. So we just held you and stared. I still stare sometimes and am amazed I have such a precious life entrusted to our care. What a fun, challenging, long, short, exhausting, educational and tremendous year it has been. William, I can’t wait to get to know you better as you grow and learn each day. I love you! ~ Mom
William and I did some retail therapy today. It was also his first visit to the mall. He was a great shopping buddy.
Sometimes I lament the fact that I don’t get to buy ruffled skirts, floral leggings or hair bows. But then I remember neck ties, bow ties, button down shirts, vests and smart fedoras…my boy is pretty darn handsome.
We used a birthday gift card to get him some shorts and tops…it’s weird to not put him in the onesies as much anymore. Not having a bunch of snaps is a good thing though…he’s such a wiggle worm.
I guess I’ll just have to shop for my niece when I get the urge to buy a dress.
William did such a good job during our shopping adventure I had to make sure he had some outside and dirt time.
Elizabeth Hafner 